Thursday May 14, 2026
At Dodge Alley (Turk & Larkin St.)
Free to attend | No registration required
$15 vouchers for food/drink at nearby businesses first come first serve
Sruti Sarathy shares an evening of traditional South Indian melodies on the Carnatic violin and the mridangam, spanning traditional raga, improvisation, and original songs. Live music and local businesses animate the Tenderloin’s Dodge Alley every 2nd Thursday of the month, with support from the TLCBD & SFOEWD.
Tenderloin Museum continues the 2025-2026 season of “Sounds of the Tenderloin” programs with another “2nd Thursdays at Dodge Alley in collaboration with the TLCBD. This month, we welcome Sruti Sarathy, a leading Carnatic musician with a soulful, imaginative approach to Indian violin. Born and raised in the Bay Area as a diaspora kid, Sarathy began her training in the South Indian Carnatic music as a prodigious three year old. Her lifelong practice in this classical tradition formed the basis for a decorated career as a performer, composer, researcher, and interpreter. She regularly performs at top Carnatic music gatherings in the Bay Area and across both the United States and India; she is also a prolific collaborator, most frequently as a composer-performer for dance and theater pieces. Now, she splits time between California and Chennai, so we are lucky to have her talents on the streets of the TL!
Free, outdoor, music-centric happenings at a once notorious Tenderloin alley began in 2022 through a collaboration between TLM, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, and longtime residents of the alley. These events were some of the first “Sounds of the Tenderloin” programs, a series of events “animating the TL’s under-sung cultural history through live music” that began with a grant from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, continued with more support from the State of CA’s Museum Grant Program, and now exists as a monthly block party at Dodge Place. Since those initial shows, the alley has benefited from substantial community investment, including a Community Challenge Grant project that brought two stunning murals to the alley and an ongoing grant through the TLCBD to bring monthly music to the Alley along with free food/drink vouchers to spend at adjacent businesses. TLM is thrilled to return to programming Dodge Alley and to grow the vibrancy of this amazing community space and truly urban venue.
Programmed in collaboration with the TLCBD & SF Office of Economic and Workforce Development. A limited number of vouchers for free food and drink at local businesses will be available!